Category: C

A colonoscope is a similar scope with much greater capabilities for removal of polyps because the scope allows examination of the entire length of the intestine. This scope allows the physician to evaluate for inflamed tissue, growths, ulcers, bleeding, and spasm. The main differences between the sigmoidoscopy and the colonoscopy are that the latter examines [...]

Cohabitation means living together in an intimate relationship. Cohabitation implies a relationship that is like a marriage, but without any legal ties. People may choose cohabitation because they do not wish to have the formal legal ties of a marriage, including financial ties. For example, a person may lose eligibility for some federal income and [...]

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a family of interventions used to help people recognize and overcome a wide variety of problems. It is based on the theory that how a person thinks about a situation affects how he/she feels about it and ultimately affects how he/she reacts or behaves as a result. The therapist teaches the [...]

Also known as designer drugs, club drugs are a group of manufactured, psychoactive substances. While club drugs can differ substantially in their effects and pharmacologic classifications, they are subsumed under the category of club drugs because they are often abused in the context of dance clubs or raves (all-night parties). There is some disagreement as [...]

Cocaine is a mood-altering drug in the stimulant or “amphetamine-like” class. As a consequence, it tends to produce euphoria or “high” feelings by directly blocking the reuptake of dopamine in the brain. The resulting increases of dopamine produce an elevation of mood and euphoria. Cocaine has two additional effects, which are to block the sodium-potassium [...]

Conviction for possession or use of any amount or form of cocaine in this country constitutes a felony. As a consequence, it is difficult, if not impossible, to truly discuss low risk or “social” use of cocaine at present. Thus for practical purposes, all cocaine use in American communities must be viewed as being cocaine [...]

The treatment of addiction in general and cocaine in particular requires a focus on eliminating all use of cocaine and all other mood-altering drug use. Abstinence is the treatment goal. The reason for abstinence from other mood-altering drugs in addition to cocaine is the common pattern of initially quitting cocaine only to continue to use [...]

Clinical trials are a form of medical research involving human participants. What follows is a brief overview about what clinical trials are and why they are done, important considerations for individuals considering participation in clinical trials, and a history of women and clinical trials. The primary purpose of clinical trials is to determine whether promising [...]

Chronic pain is a complex medical syndrome. Any episodic pain problem, including low back pain, neck pain, and migraine headaches, as well as many common medical problems such as diabetes can cause chronic pain. Chronic pain is any pain that, despite appropriate medical and surgical treatment, persists for 6 months or longer. Acute pain denotes [...]

There are three primary treatment goals for someone with chronic pain. These are: adjusting medication to suit one’s individual needs, training in psychological pain and stress management techniques, and increasing daily activities and improving the quality of one’s life. The first goal is to appropriately adjust medications. Forty percent of patients with chronic pain take [...]

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, is a chronic, progressive disease encompassing both emphysema and chronic bronchitis that lead to severe airflow obstruction. Emphysema causes irreversible lung damage by weakening and breaking the air sacs (the alveoli) within the lungs. As a result, elasticity of the [...]

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is defined as severe fatigue of 6 months or longer, with no medical explanation. Four or more of the following eight symptoms must also have been present over the past 6 months, starting after the fatigue: substantial impairment in short-term memory or concentration, sore throat, tender lymph nodes, muscle pain, joint [...]

The leading cause of death in women in the United States is heart disease resulting from clogged arteries. Although heart attack and angina used to be thought of as a “male” disease, that is no longer the case. Over 500,000 women in 2000 died from heart disease while about 440,000 men died from the same [...]

Atherosclerosis is a slow progressive disease in which cholesterol deposits form within the wall of blood vessels. Atherosclerosis begins with damage to the inner lining of blood vessels. Such injury commonly occurs with high blood pressure and smoking. The tissue behind the inner lining is exposed, which makes blood platelets sticky and causes smooth muscle [...]

High cholesterol can be inherited, but it can also develop in people without a family history of high cholesterol. Two inherited conditions are familial combined hyperlipidemia (occurring in 1 in 100 individuals), and familial hypercholesterolemia (occurring in 1 in 500 people). People with these conditions are at very high risk of premature heart attack and [...]

The National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) has developed guidelines (ATP III guidelines) to help estimate the risk of disease due to high cholesterol, and guide efforts at prevention and treatment. Individuals can assess their personal risk for heart disease on the basis of their risk factors. The highest risk groups are people with diabetes, heart [...]

Diet and Exercise The initial step in treating high cholesterol is diet, increased physical activity, and weight loss. Reducing dietary intake of saturated fat and cholesterol is beneficial in lowering LDL cholesterol, and regular, sustained aerobic exercise increases HDL cholesterol. Weight loss in women may cause a decline in HDL cholesterol without much change in [...]

Infection with Chlamydia trachomatis is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the United States and the most frequently reported infectious disease; an estimated 3 million cases occur annually. Chlamydia can be transmitted by vaginal, anal, or, less commonly, oral contact. The symptoms of chlamydia, which usually occur within 7-21 days of infection, can be [...]

Chiropractors are practitioners of the complementary and alternative medicine approach known as chiropractic. (Chiropractic is both a noun and an adjective.) They trace their roots to September 18, 1895, when David Daniel Palmer—a magnetic healer— used his hands to thrust on a bump on the neck of his janitor and in the process cured the [...]

Anyone who has ever intentionally cracked her knuckles or stretched and popped her neck has an idea of the benefit of chiropractic, for it is a similar manipulation of the joints that is chiropractic today. Yet despite the many people who report benefiting from chiropractic treatment, chiropractic has a controversial history that goes back to [...]